ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: An Overview of Its Rationale and Impact on Individual Taxpayers

摘要

This report responds to your request for a nontechnical primer on the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for individuals, which is intended to help ensure that high-income individuals do not avoid significant tax liability. In general, AMT is a separate tax system that parallels the regular individual income tax system. Under this dual system of taxation, taxpayers are required to first compute their tax liability under regular income tax rules and then, if their income or tax payments do not meet certain tests, they are required to recompute their tax liability using the AMT rules. Taxpayers are then obligated to pay the greater of the two.